After the recent horrific destruction by ISIS militants, Palmyra’s Temple of Bel may not be lost forever. Though the full extent of the damage to the ancient temple is unknown, many believe that it can be rebuilt. Reuters says: Satellite pictures taken after the 2,000-year-old temple was dynamited by the jihadi group, and other images broadcast since Syrian government forces retook the city on Sunday, show almost the entire structure collapsed in a heap of rubble. It was one of several important monuments blown up in the city last year including the temple of Baal Shamin, a victory arch and funerary towers. The city museum, home to treasured artifacts, was ransacked and statues were smashed or defaced. Despite the extensive damage, Maamoun Abdelkarim said that the Temple of Bel had not been pulverized and its foundations were largely intact. Consecrated to a Mesopotamian god, the Temple of Bel later served as a Christian church and a mosque. In an inner sanctuary, carvings showed seven planets surrounded by the signs of the zodiac, and a procession of camels and veiled women. “What was said about it all being turned to dust – it’s not dust,” Abdelkarim told Reuters in Damascus. “There [...]